Acer cancels launch of Aliyun smartphone in China
Claire Sung and Staff Reporter 2012-09-15 14:51 (GMT+8)
Acer cancelled the press conference to announce the launch of the smartphone produced in partnership with Alibaba. (Photo/CNA)
The cancellation of an event to launch an Acer smartphone using the Aliyun platform developed by Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba on Sept. 13 may result in losses of millions of yuan to both companies and severely damage Acer's bid to venture into China's high-end smartphone market.
The scheduled date of the launch was a day after Apple unveiled the iPhone 5.
A spokesman for Acer Taiwan revealed that the company is not planning another launch, the Taiwanese company's cooperation with Alibaba Could Computing is expected to continue. Acer will also continue working with Google, he said.
The Acer CloudMobile A800 smartphone running Aliyun was reportedly remodeled from Android-based devices by Alibaba.
Acer has launched two types of smartphone in China this year. Its new CloudMobile A800 smartphone is set to be priced at 2,999 yuan (US$474).
Acer is the third manufacturing company to use Aliyun. The other two are Beijing Tianyu Communication Equipment and Haier Electronics Group.
The world's fourth largest PC manufacturer, Acer acquired handheld device maker E-Ten Information System Co in 2008 to enter the smartphone market.
